'It's very moving,' civil rights icon John Lewis visits Black Lives Matter Plaza
WASHINGTON - Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia) is the latest high-profile figure to throw his support behind the newly rechristened Black Lives Matter Plaza in the nation's capital.
“It’s very moving. Very moving. Very impressive,” Lewis said Sunday morning. “I think the people in DC and around nation are sending a mighty powerful and strong message to the rest of the world (that we will get there)."
Lewis is a living civil rights legend who is known as one of the youngest speakers at the 1963 March on Washington.
Lewis was also beaten by police officers on what is known as “Bloody Sunday," or the aftermath of a 1965 voting rights march across the Edmond Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
The 80-year-old lawmaker announced in December he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
RELATED: DC won't remove "Defund The Police" street art next to Black Lives Matter mural
FOX 5 DC also asked Lewis about the “Defund The Police” message painted to 16th St. NW Saturday night by the local Black Lives Matter DC group.
Lewis did not agree or disagree, but said activists should be heard.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who joined Lewis at Sunday's event, declined to comment on defund the police initiatives.